Detachment and Engagement in the Study of "Lived Experience"

Attempts to ground the study of spirituality in definitions of spirituality suffer conceptually from difficulties that also beset the study of religion. Drawing from discussions among scholars of religion, I argue for an approach to the study of spirituality in which the need to define spirituality is not assumed, but rather chosen depending on what we want to know and the formative processes (academic, religious, or both) in which we are involved. This choice marks a critical boundary that we can use to signal our movement between engaged and detached "postures" relative to our subject matter. Reflexive attention to posture or voice allows us to move across disciplinary boundaries and between communities of discourse without blurring the differences between them.